Heard the one about the Irishman who will captain England in a one-day international against Ireland at his old club ground? Eoin Morgan will find himself in that potentially tricky situation in front of a capacity 10,000 crowd in Malahide, in the northern suburbs of Dublin on Tuesday. While he was happy to praise the development of the ground in particular, and Irish cricket in general, Morgan refused to go along with the theory that the trickle of players such as him from Ireland to England may be about to dry up.

William Porterfield, a county team-mate of Rankin at Edgbaston who is Ireland's captain, joined his coach, Phil Simmons, the former West Indies opener, at the pre-match press conference in expressing the hope that the steady progress of Cricket Ireland towards the sport's top table would prevent any further defections. George Dockrell, Somerset's Dublin-born left-arm spinner, is already thought to be on England's radar.

"Everything being done behind the scenes … hopefully will mean Boyd is the last person," said Simmons.

Portefield added: "As long as we are producing those players and ticking the box in terms of showing we can host events like this, then that extra revenue means players will not necessarily have to take that step of playing for England.

"Hopefully a lot of young Irish cricketers coming through will not have to make that decision. It will be a no-brainer as we will have an international calendar."

However, Morgan, who played 23 ODIs for Ireland before making the switch he had long envisaged soon after the 2007 World Cup, remains unconvinced. "The main factor in deciding whether your aspirations are there is Test match cricket," he said. "If you have a young, ambitious guy who wants to play Test cricket he's going to look elsewhere. It's unfortunate but it's the nature of playing cricket in Ireland and for Ireland.

"If you watch any of the Test matches this summer you're dreaming if you think anything has changed. The Ashes is everything. The rivalry, the hype and the standard of cricket and how everyone adores and admires the guys playing in it should drive you to want to play cricket."

Ireland have a declared aim of securing Test match status by 2020, having confirmed their status as the most competitive of the associate members of the International Cricket Council by winning the World Cricket League to secure their place at a third consecutive World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in 2015.

This will be England's fourth ODI in Ireland since the first at Stormont in 2006 and, although they are unbeaten, each of the past two victories has been tight under the Duckworth-Lewis method.

The forecast is fine and England have again travelled without their star names – eight of them, as in addition to the five players who are taking a complete post-Ashes break, Kevin Pietersen, Jonathan Trott and Joe Root have been given the Ireland game off before linking up with the squad before the start of the five-match ODI series against Australia at Headingley on Friday.

That has led to a little more chuntering about a perceived lack of support from England for Ireland's international ambitions – although Warren Deutrom, the chief executive of Cricket Ireland, was at pains to stress the practical help provided "below the parapet". It could also provide a chance for up to five ODI debutants, including Rankin.

"It's exciting to see him with three Lions on his chest," said Morgan, who has been cast aside from Test cricket since floundering against Pakistan in Dubai and Abu Dhabi in early 2012. "The opportunity is endless and if he achieves his potential hopefully we'll see him in a white shirt sooner rather than later." He does not seem big on diplomacy.